@ Sunday Times Books LIVE

Pay tribute to the legendary Syd Kitchen at Cape Town’s Alma Cafe

The blurb on the back cover of Donvé Lee’s book, Syd Kitchen – Scars that Shine, reads: ‘Skollie, saint, scholar, hippest of hippies, imperfect musician with a perfect imagination. Syd Kitchen was, like all great artists, born to enrich his art and not himself.”

“Plagued by drug abuse, alcohol and depression, too much of an outlaw to be embraced by record companies, he frequently sold his furniture to cover production costs of his albums, seduced fans at concerts and music festivals worldwide with his dazzling ‘Afro-Saxon’ mix of folk, jazz, blues and rock interspersed with marvellously irreverent banter, and finally became the subject of several compelling documentaries, one of which – Fool in a Bubble – premiered in New York in 2010.”

The biography – described by musicians, book lovers and art critics as a ‘masterpiece’ – will be relaunched at The Alma Cafe on 25 August, 2017 along with a concert celebrating Syd, his magic and his music.

Take a peek at the man:

Long time friends and music partners guitarist Steve Newman, Bill Knight, Miriam Erasmus, Tim Parr and Mark Harris will perform both their own and Syd’s music at Alma Cafe, while author Donvé Lee will chat about the book.